Xinjiang: Role Model of Uniting to Prevent Violent Extremism

　　2019年12月12日，尼日利亚主流大报《每日信报》发表驻尼日利亚大使周平剑题为《新疆是团结一致防止暴力极端主义的楷模》署名文章。全文如下：

　　2016年1月，时任联合国秘书长潘基文在《赫芬顿邮报》撰文指出：“暴力极端主义是对《联合国宪章》的直接攻击，对国际和平与安全构成严重威胁。本月我向联合国大会提交了《防止暴力极端主义行动计划》，通过实际和综合性手段应对暴力极端主义的驱动因素。暴力极端主义往往导致恐怖主义，这一行动计划就关于在全球、区域和国家层面采取协调一致的行动提出了70多项具体建议，包括五点原则：第一、必须把预防放在首位……”

On December 12, 2019, Nigerian leading newspaper Daily Trust published an article written by Ambassador of China to Nigeria Dr. ZHOU Pingjian. The full text goes as follows:

"Violent extremism is a direct assault on the United Nations Charter and a grave threat to international peace and security," wrote then UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in January 2016.

In his op-ed in HuffPost, Mr. Ban continued, "This month, I presented to the United Nations General Assembly a Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism, which takes a practical and comprehensive approach to address the drivers of this menace. It focuses on violent extremism which can be conducive to terrorism. The Plan puts forward more than 70 recommendations for concerted action at the global, regional and national levels, based on five inter-related points: Number one, we must put prevention first......"

　　联合国秘书长强烈呼吁国际社会采取协调一致行动：团结一致防止暴力极端主义。事实上，其专栏文章的标题正是《团结一致防止暴力极端主义》。

　　联合国《防止暴力极端主义行动计划》指出，贫困、失业、缺乏就业机会和教育程度低，以及暴力极端主义团体随意歪曲和利用宗教信仰、族裔差异和政治思想体系等，是形成暴力极端主义的背景和成因。《行动计划》提出应为暴力极端主义团体的人提供教育机会、职业培训资源和经济机遇，鼓励他们脱离暴力极端主义团体。

The UN Secretary-General's appeal for concerted action by the international community couldn't be clearer: uniting to prevent violent extremism. As a matter of fact, he chose it as the headline of the op-ed.

As the Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism points out, poverty, unemployment, lack of job opportunities, poor education and the cynical distortion and misuse of religious beliefs, ethnic differences and political ideologies by violent extremist groups, are all backgrounds and motivations of violent extremism. The document also proposes to encourage members of violent extremist groups to leave such groups by providing them with educational and economic opportunities as well as vocational training resources.

　　为此，世界很多国家设立去极端化中心、教育转化中心等以进行去极端化改造。有的国家在监狱和社区两个层面对恐怖分子以及高危群体进行教育转化。比如，法国在全国主要社区设有去极端化中心；美国推行“社区矫正”措施；英国通过“转化和脱离”项目，要求涉恐人员参加培训，并且设立隔离中心，防止有关极端暴恐思想在监狱传播。

　　在尼日利亚，“安全通道行动”由国防总部主导，协同现行国际人道主义法律，以非毁伤性、多国多机构人道主义行动方式，鼓励有悔改意愿的博科圣地恐怖分子去除暴力极端主义。该行动同样旨在帮助愿意投降的博科圣地战斗人员实现去极端化、重返社会并回复正常生活。

To this end, many countries have set up de-radicalization centers and education transformation centers. Some countries have developed both in-prison and community-based education transformation of terrorists and high-vulnerability groups. For example, France established de-radicalization centers in major communities nationwide. The US also has in place "community correction" measures. In the UK, the Desistance and Disengagement Programme (DDP) makes it mandatory for all terrorism-related offenders to receive training. There are also segregation units in prison to prevent the spread of radical violent terrorism.

In Nigeria, Operation Safe Corridor is reported to be a Defence Headquarters-led non-kinetic multi-national and multi-agency humanitarian operation conducted in tandem with extant international humanitarian laws to encourage willing and repentant Boko Haram terrorists in the North East to shun violent extremism. The Operation is designed to also de-radicalize, rehabilitate and re-integrate repentant Boko Haram combatants who willingly surrender to troops.